Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan, in full Barbara Charline Jordan, (born February 21, 1936, Houston, Texas, U.S.—died January 17, 1996, Austin, Texas), American lawyer, educator, and politician who served as U.S. congressional representative from Texas (1973–79). She was the first African American congresswoman to come from the South.

Jordan was the youngest of three daughters in a close-knit family. As a high school student, she became a skilled public speaker, winning a national debate contest in 1952. She attended Texas Southern University in Houston, becoming a member of the debate team that tied Harvard University in a debate—one of her proudest college moments. Following graduation (magna cum laude in 1956), she attended Boston University Law School, where she was one of only two women—both African Americans from Houston—to graduate. She passed the Massachusetts bar exam but moved to Tuskegee Institute (later renamed Tuskegee University) in Alabama and taught there for one year before returning to Texas and gaining admittance to the bar there.

Jordan was an effective campaigner for the Democrats during the 1960 presidential election, and this experience propelled her into politics. In 1962 and 1964 she was an unsuccessful candidate for the Texas House of Representatives, but she was elected in 1966 to the Texas Senate, the first African American member since 1883 and the first woman ever elected to that legislative body.

Jordan’s success in Texas politics came from her knowledge of and adherence to the rules of the political process. She went to great lengths to fit in and sought advice on committee assignments. Her own legislative work focused on the environment, antidiscrimination clauses in state business contracts, and urban legislation, the last being a political challenge in a state dominated by rural interests. She captured the attention of Pres. Lyndon Johnson, who invited her to the White House for a preview of his 1967 civil rights message.

Jordan remained in the Texas Senate until 1972, when she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas’s 18th district. In the House, Jordan advocated legislation to improve the lives of minorities, the poor, and the disenfranchised and sponsored bills that expanded workers’ compensation and strengthened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to cover Mexican Americans in the Southwest.

Although she acquired a reputation as an effective legislator, Jordan did not become a national figure until 1974, when her participation in the hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee on the impeachment of Pres. Richard M. Nixon was televised nationwide. Her keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention confirmed her reputation as one of the most commanding and articulate public speakers of her era.

Barbara Jordan delivering the keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, New York City.Warren K. Leffler—USN&WR/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-U9-32937-32)

Jordan decided not to seek a fourth term and retired from Congress in 1979. In that year also she published Barbara Jordan, a Self-Portrait. She then accepted a position at the University of Texas, Austin, where she taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs until her death. Despite her absence from Washington, D.C., she remained influential in political affairs. In the 1990s she served as an adviser on ethics in government for Texas Gov. Ann Richards and also was chairman for the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. In 1992 she again gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen, Senior Editor.